Lost and Found
by Tora-Kun
Summary: A strange girl comes looking for Ban, claiming to be his sister--And when Ban has something to say about it, she changes her story. But who is she, and why won't she give up..?
1. Ban's Supposed Sister

--I've seen up to Get Backers 42... If I did something stupid, don't kill me. While I'm on the 'killing Tora' subject, I don't own anything except for my character, and I don't even get to completely own her. You'll see...- -  
  
The morning was crisp and cold, and even after the fog of dawn lifted, a slight chill remained in the air.  
  
"Come on! Don't you want something back? Anything!" Ginji yelled plaintively at a passerby. He'd been standing a lonely vigil on the corner since morning, handing out flyers. It was cold, but not enough so to bother him. He hopped around, throwing their colorful leaflets to whoever passed and having to retrieve quite a few from a nearby trash can.  
  
"Hey, these cost money to make, you know," he sulked, tapping the pile to more or less line them all up again.  
  
"Ah..." there was an unsure, questioning sound behind him, and he turned to see who was speaking.  
  
His first impression was that she looked oddly similar to Ban-her slightly lighter brown hair spiking out in all directions to frame her face, and wide, almost too vivid violet eyes. There were a pair of bluish-black glasses clipped onto her shirt, over a bosom that was showing enough to look very nice without standing out... Much...  
  
Whoa. Ban didn't have -those-.  
  
"So you... Get stuff back?" the girl said, looking at a flyer that looked like it'd been snatched off the ground. Ginji snapped his attention up to her face and assumed an innocent expression.  
  
"Yes, ma'am! Anything you need, we can get it!" Ginji said, his voice bubbling with pride.  
  
"Can you... Find people?" she said.  
  
"Well, wouldn't a P.I. be better for that?" Ginji questioned, noting mentally that he wasn't handing out any more flyers, and worried that he'd get yelled at later for slacking if he didn't find Ban and himself a job.  
  
"I've... I've tried a P.I... I've tried everything... And still..." she said, tears glistening at the corners of her eyes.  
  
"Oh... Don't cry! My partner and I can do it, I'd guarantee you!" Ginji said, grabbing her hands in his own and smiling brightly.  
  
The girl balked, then jerked back from the blond boy's grasp.  
  
"I.. Yes, thank you," she said, turning her head away, her hair falling over her face.  
  
Ginji shuffled his feet nervously for a moment. He hadn't expected her to freak over just that-it wasn't as if he'd grabbed something personal...  
  
"I'm sorry," the girl said, brushing her brown locks out of her eyes. "That was rude.... I'm sorry."  
  
She seemed genuinely apologetic, but there was still no explanation as to why she'd shied from the touch so violently.  
  
"No, don't be sorry, it was my fault," Ginji said, smiling again, "I understand." He said it, even though he had absolutely no idea.  
  
"Ah... I haven't introduced myself, have I? My name is Talia..." She said, bowing slightly. The foreign name rolled off her tongue with ease, making it sound as if it belonged.  
  
"Amano Ginji," he said, returning the custom. She smiled slightly at him, still looking uncomfortable from earlier, and he smiled back, beaming.  
  
"Let's go on to the café we normally hold our client meetings at," he said. "My partner should be there later. Why don't you tell me about who you're looking for, in the mean time?"  
  
Talia nodded, and Ginji started walking toward the street where the Honky Tonk was located.  
  
"Well... It's my brother that I'm looking for... He keeps disappearing..." she said to him quietly. "Years ago, we were quite close, but then he just..."  
  
"I see..." Ginji said after a few seconds of silence, watching her out of the corner of his eye. When they turned on the street they were heading towards, he dropped a bit behind, letting her walk in front and admiring the way her charcoal gray trench coat was just snug enough to give suggestions of her body as she walked, then reassigning his attention to her story.  
  
"So.. What was his name?" Ginji said, wanting something to distract him.  
  
Talia stopped, clutching her hands together before her chest, eyes sparkling.  
  
"Ban... Midou Ban."  
  
Ginji stood there, staring, tare-fied.  
  
"You're... You're Banchan's sister?" he said, somewhat squeakily.  
  
Talia flushed, looking nervous suddenly. "Y...Yeah. Why?"  
  
"Ban never told me he had a sister! He's my partner!" Ginji said, jumping about happily.  
  
"Really!?" Talia, almost screaming with delight, started running towards the restaurant.  
  
"Taliasan! Wait for me!" Ginji yelped, tearing off after her.  
  
Suddenly, Talia felt strange-some odd, fluctuating sense of dejavu. Feeling as if she were remembering and seeing at the same time... When, in reality, it was mostly remembering.  
  
Running down a street, she heard her name. A scream, a bang, and...  
  
...Then...  
  
Ginji caught up just in time to catch Talia before she went toppling into the gutter. She was about to fall forward, but he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her more or less upright. She was limp, motionless.  
  
"T...Taliasan." Ginji shook her slightly, muttering. "Oi... What happened to you..."  
  
After a few moments of trying to wake her, Ginji picked her up, draping her dark gray-clad figure over his arms, and carried Talia into the Honky Tonk. 


	2. A Different Explanation, a New Job

(A chapter! And yet, I still don't own GetBackers... But we knew that, now didn't we children?)  
  
"Ya, Paul," Ban said, stepping into the Honky Tonk, no more than ten or fifteen minutes after Ginji had walked in. Said blond-haired boy was sitting at the counter, looking worried.  
  
"Ginjikun... Is something wr-" Ban started, peering at his friend. Then he noticed the booth in the corner.  
  
Atop the seat closest to the wall was a curvy figure covered in dark, thick grey. Ban stood there, staring.  
  
"Talia!?" he screamed, bug eyed. The girl on the seat didn't stir.  
  
"Banchan, she passed out... Is that normal?" Ginji asked, blinking at his friend's reaction.  
  
"Normal!? What about that girl -is- normal?" Ban said, turning around. "I'm getting out of here before she wakes-"  
  
"But... But Banchan! That's not very nice to say about your sister!" Ginji said, standing and ready to go after Ban.  
  
He turned back toward his partner, twitching. "Sister!? Is that the lie she fed to you to find me?"  
  
"Lie?" Ginji asked, the shock clearly showing in his voice, "you mean Talia's not..?"  
  
"No! She's just some stalker who needs a new hobby!" Ban yelled.  
  
About at that moment there was a rustling in the corner, and a tiny yelp.  
  
"Bansama!" Talia screeched, running toward him and jumping at him in a blur.  
  
"No! N-" was all Ban managed to get out before the two fell to the floor in a chaotic tangle of arms and legs.  
  
Natsumi blinked from behind the counter. "Well... She seems awfully happy to see you. At least she doesn't look so sick anymore!"  
  
Ban got ahold of himself after a moment and pushed Talia away, standing.  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing, showing up here!?" Ban said. He looked seriously pissed.  
  
"I... You were gone one day and I looked everywhere... And then... I mean... Why didn't you tell me you were going... I was so worried... And..." Talia trailed off, tears gathering at the corners of her violet eyes.  
  
"Don't you get it? I don't give a damn! Stop -bothering- me, Talia!" As he spoke, she fell to her knees, covering her eyes with her hands, and they could all see the tears streaming out of her eyes.  
  
Paul was reading a newspaper. He rustled it pointedly, as if silently saying "I'm not involved with any of this." Natsumi, meanwhile, was running around the counter to kneel beside Talia, muttering words of assurance.  
  
"Banchan... You should have been more gentle with her," Ginji said, making a face at his fuming partner. Ban said nothing, and looked away.  
  
Natsumi put her hand lightly on Talia's back, whispering that it'd be okay, and she jerked away suddenly, much as she'd done to Ginji earlier that day, having to move a lot more since Natsumi was much closer to her. She practically crawled on her back to get away, her tear stained hands slipping along the floor.  
  
"Leave me... Leave me alone!" she yelped, curling up into a ball to cover her face. The walls of the cafe shook suddenly, as if someone with quite a bit of power had punched them simultaneously.  
  
Ban's eyes widened, and he swore under his breath.  
  
"Damn it, you!" he said, rushing toward the girl that resembled him and leaning over in front of her. "Do you hear me!? Stop this now!" The strange shaking began again, the shelves starting to tremble and threaten to throw their contents onto the floor. Paul looked upward, folding his paper.  
  
"Ban, if she breaks anything, you're paying for it," he said.  
  
He twitched, looking up at Paul. "This is -not- the time!"  
  
"Just FYI."  
  
Ban looked back at the girl sobbing at his feet. He wondered if she was even crying anymore, if her eyes weren't as they sometimes went--blank, cold, reflective--when her powers chose to surface. But he could hear a sniffle.  
  
"Oi, stop this! You're going to cost me a lot of money, here!" Ban said, grabbing her by the shoulder. This time she made no move to get away.  
  
"Is that all you care about!?" she yelled, looking straight up into his face. As she did so, a few glass things fell from shelves and tables. Paul stood.  
  
"Bansan..."  
  
Ban grabbed Talia by the collar of her jacket, making sure not to grip too hard.  
  
"Talia. Stop this, right now," he said, in the calmest voice he could pull off. Talia looked up at him, tears gushing.  
  
...Right now... Stop this right now...  
  
She felt, not the same as she had earlier. This hadn't happened before, but someone -had- said that before... In that same, calm, commanding tone.  
  
Talia grasped onto something... A memory.  
  
Then she was falling and it was gone.  
  
Ban caught her as she passed out, her head ending up against his chest quite neatly.  
  
"How cute," Hevn said from the doorway, her arms crossed under her chest. "I suppose you're too -busy- to take a job, hm?"  
  
Ginji jumped in her way as she made a move to leave.  
  
"No, no, not at all, just wait right here while I separate these two lovebirds-" Ginji tugged on the back of Ban's shirt, and was rewarded with a firm backhand.  
  
"It's not like that, damnit!" he said, standing with Talia strewn over his arms, and walking toward the booth she'd been resting in before.  
  
"Anyway..." Hevn said, watching Ban gently lay the girl down.  
  
"Why did she freak out like that when Natsumi touched her?" Ginji asked, cutting in, "She did that to me earlier, too.."  
  
Hevn stood there, tapping her foot.  
  
"Well, she never found out why, at least she didn't know why when I knew her, but she-"  
  
"That's it, I'm going," Hevn said, starting to storm off.  
  
"Nonono!" Ginji and Ban both jumped in front of her this time, and Ginji went to lead her toward an empty booth. Soon they were at least semi- settled down. Hevn ordered a cup of coffee, and the Get Backers watched her tensely while she sipped at it.  
  
"Well..." The two leaned forward as she began to speak, anxious.  
  
"I don't know if I can give this delicate job to such desparate men. You might jump the gun and get in some kind of trouble..." She said, a smile tugging at the edges of her mouth. The two crashed down onto the table.  
  
"Hevn-san! You know us better than that!" Tare-Ginji whimpered, clinging to her shoulder. Amazingly he failed to get that she was just screwing with their heads. She thwacked him off, sending him flying facefirst into ban as she chuckled.  
  
"Alright, alright. Here's the deal," she said, holding up her hands in a mock guesture of surrender, "Your client wants to meet with you personally, but he said to give you the rundown on the situation."  
  
She took a deep breath and began again. "Our client--he'd like to stay mostly anonymous but we'll call him 'ichi'--used to work for a particular branch of a large company nicknamed 'Metto'... It's one of those cover-up stories you're always hearing about. These guys have close ties with the government and some serious power in decisions, but their existance is practically unknown. They, and their subsidary companies, work on unusual warfare tactics and weapons. Many of them are quite different, but they test a lot and the final products are usually efficient..."  
  
She paused, making sure she was being listened to, and then continued. "Our man Ichi used to work for them, like I said. He had a son. Now the boy apparently still works for Metto, and hasn't been seen for years... He was forced to leave, and now he's worried they're using him. But the thing is, I couldn't find a single record of his ever existing, no less having a job with the company...  
  
"This guy, though. He hasn't seen the boy for years, I guess. And that's all. I don't know what else he'll have to say about it, but he said he had important information. Here's the information about your meeting," She slid a manilla envelope across the table and then stood, taking one last sip of her coffee. "Be there, don't be late. You make me look bad when you don't show up."  
  
Ban took the envelope carefully and watched Hevn leave, exchanging a glance with Ginji. After she left, they both sat for a moment, sort of mulling over what they'd just learned.  
  
"Um... Bansan?" Natsumi said, tapping him on the shoulder lightly, "I hate to interrupt your thoughts, but where'd Talia go...?" 


End file.
